Death in Paradise introduces a number of ongoing storylines in season twelve and the series does that very well. Death in Paradise is a series that seems to change actors at lightning speed. Every season there is a change in the composition of the police team of the fictional Caribbean island of Saint-Marie. This was also very much the case in the eleventh season and that took some getting used to. In my opinion, a little too much time is spent on getting to know the new characters. For a series where the charm is that you know exactly what to expect, that change is sometimes difficult.
In the eleventh season, several characters had to find a new turn in the series due to those changes. In season twelve, that transformation is finally complete and all actors are comfortable in their new roles. As soon as that moment has arrived, you notice that the actors – and therefore their characters – work much better and know exactly what they have in common. And in that way, changes in character development this season also come into their own much better.
The murder cases are nothing special, but they are fun to watch
Still, Detective Inspector Neville Parker (Ralf Little, The Royle Family) and his team investigate a murder on the tropical island every week. This time they have to deal with a poisoned bar owner, an astronomer who has fallen off a cliff and a guest stabbed to death at a wedding. The murder mysteries are fun, but not very special or complicated. Often the murders are committed because of money, revenge or love.
However, what we get to see much more this time than in other seasons are ongoing storylines about the personal lives of the main characters and that works very well. This season, for example, Neville finds love and Commissioner Patterson (Don Warrington, New Street Law) discovers that he has an illegitimate daughter. Newcomer Darlene (Ginny Holder, Holby City) quickly gains prestige in the police force and her immediate colleague Marlon (Tahj Miles, Small Axe) becomes insecure about it. It is very nice that we now see this development so strongly. This makes the characters more believable. Some storylines also know how to cross each other at exactly the right moments, so that they only reinforce each other.
In season twelve, the development of the main characters takes the series to the next level
This comes to the fore, for example, when a comparison is made between the uncertainties that both Marlon and Patterson have about different matters. The highlight here, however, is a murder that is committed and is related to the development that one of the main characters is going through at that time. At that time, Ralf Little in particular shows what his character Neville has to offer and we also see that he has experienced a nice growth over the seasons.
Death in Paradise is still mainly a light-hearted detective with fun actors and beautiful locations instead of complex murder mysteries. But because the makers have invested heavily in the emotional growth of the characters this season, the level rises very much. The BBC has already announced a thirteenth and a fourteenth season and I am very happy with that.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
